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The War of the Worlds (1898 Novel)
Novel information The War of the Worlds is a science-fiction novel written by H.G. Wells in the year of 1898. Plot The planet Mars has grown uninhabitable for the Martians to live there. They are forced to find a way to Earth and start the attempt to wipe out the human race. When the Martians shot themselves off their planet in cylinders towards Earth, landing near a town in England, an astronomer named Ogilvy, along with the narrator, saw some strange shooting light in the sky and went in the one direction of which the cylinder seemed to have landed, hoping to find it. When they found the crash site, the news soon spread like wildfire. A crowd started to gather around the crater the cylinder had made, expecting to see men much like themselves crawl out of the opening that was slowly unscrewing itself. The Martians emerged and their appearance was like anything but men, being "big" and "greyish" with "oily brown skin", and "the size, perhaps, of a bear", with "two large dark-coloured eyes", and a lipless "V-shaped mouth" that drips saliva, surrounded by "Gorgon groups of tentacles". The narrator finds them "at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous". They had a weapon that shot heat-rays, setting aflame anything in its path. Many people were shot by it including the astronomer, while the others along with the narrater fled for their life. Narrator always had anxiety to know about the first cylinder because he was uncertain about it but when the second cylinder fell down he was in a state of fear because he knew how dangerous were the Martians though they could not walk but the radiation which they used as their weapon described as "heat ray" was as much more deadlier than human technology. The narrator ran back home and the next day he and his wife packed up and headed to Leatherhead where his wife's cousins were. Shortly after they arrived the narrator had to go back to return a cart that he had borrowed from an innkeeper and had promised to return. In the town he found dead bodies along the streets, including the innkeeper's. He encountered a big metal machine on a tall tripod with a Martian inside controlling it. Back at his house, he met an artilleryman and the next day they traveled on together. After many hours walking down the road they came to a town. As they were walking through the Martians made an attack. The narrator jumped into the river out of sight of the martians and out of reach of the Heat-Ray. Military guns shot at a Martian, destroying it. It fell into the river, causing the water to boil, and burning the narrator. He was able to escape to a boat and down the river. Further down he landed exhausted on shore. After resting he found a curate from the church of the nearby town who was confused by all the destruction and started to follow the narrator around. By that time the Martians had started to destroy London where the narrator's brother lived. That was when the Martians had changed their weapon from the Heat-Ray to the Black Smoke and many other different machines like the flying machine, the handling machine, the scanner and the embankment machine had come up to destroy mankind in England. Luckily the narrator's brother had escaped in time before they spread it through the streets of London. The narrator's brother had fled in the HMS Thunder Child which was attacked by two martian fighting machines. The narrator's brother escaped the warship and was never heard of again........ The narrator and the curate had broken into an abandoned house to get food when the fifth cylinder landed right next to them, destroying part of the house and trapping them inside. For many weeks they stayed in the house during which the curate's death was caused by his loud talking that attracted the attention of a Martian. Eventually the narrator realized that no more Martians were in sight. It was finally safe to come out. He walked on down the road towards Leatherhead hoping his wife was still alive. Everywhere, the trees, the ground, were covered in a red weed from Mars. He felt like he was walking through a different world. Further down the road he met the artillery man again. They stayed together for a few days but the narrator wanted to see London so he left the artillery man and went alone. In London he wandered the destroyed and deserted streets. There he found a pit the Martians had created, where the Martians were all lying dead. They were killed by the bacteria on Earth that humans had long been immune to."slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth." When the narrator returned to his home, believing his wife to be among the dead, he found her there and the two were reunited. Miraculously, the war was over and soon England was returned back to normal. Now and then the narrator was still haunted by the past and knew that the world should be prepared for the possibility of the Martians' return. Unsolved mysteries *In the novel, the narrator claims he hears guns going off. In the end, the book never said what the purpose of the gunfire was for, or what role it played. *The book gives no description of the aftermath after the end of the Southend battle. *After the HMS Thunder Child incident, the book never says what happens to the narrator's brother. *The book never gives the names of the narrator, or his brother. Cover 518k1D+JZHL. SX331 BO1,204,203,200 .jpg C5eaf990cb35ebe24cd2c7c4d61547fd--penguin-books-fiction-books.jpg 66e7014f35ce171abe448d589c539f5f--world--sf.jpg Fc00c9c6eebfb7908d2c8faa9719395f--sci-fi-books-comic-covers.jpg Md21886594338.jpg 2c34d13cf07d59e4d0a4ee61477e431c--sci-fi-books-fiction-books.jpg 3ebb8a0cb7a763af9ead1cdb5824d861--space-posters-mad-science.jpg 74f14037649300acb239e61ac3a1e0ba.jpg Warwords.gif Blog waroftheworldsbookcover.jpg Wotw tor.jpg 004bc03ab3504c8d7a17994450d208ff--tripod-fiction-movies.jpg 6fe1d08bdc97763f51b2e5672aac77b3.jpg 497179.jpg Wotw penguin.jpg 7d3b3362437243e343842d3898d29c0b.jpg War of the worlds book cover by heyfaithless-d5u0m7r.jpg 0023.jpg The War of the Worlds first edition.jpg WotWcover.jpg Edbf08944d2167ccb39228061d5e6f10.jpg 1906 Illustrations Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.12.29 PM.png Screenshot 2017-09-08 at 11.39.17 AM - Edited.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.13.25 PM.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.14.15 PM.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.13.05 PM.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.15.06 PM.png Screenshot 2017-09-08 at 12.37.31 PM - Edited.png Screenshot 2017-09-08 at 3.27.43 PM - Edited.png 28437FBF00000578-3066374-Original drawings depicting Martians from classic sci fi novel T-a-52 1430674051505.jpg Screenshot 2017-09-08 at 12.37.06 PM - Edited.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.23.10 PM.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.13.53 PM.png Screenshot 2017-09-08 at 12.37.59 PM - Edited.png Screenshot 2017-10-30 at 9.13.40 PM.png Screenshot 2017-09-08 at 12.38.03 PM - Edited.png External links Wikipedia:The War of the Worlds The War of the Worlds book cover collection Category:The War of the Worlds adaptations